Corporate Compliance

SEC Sues Billionaire Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban, Alleges Insider Trading

Mark Cuban, a billionaire Internet entrepreneur who owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, has been charged by the SEC in a civil case with insider trading. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission contends that Cuban acted almost immediately to sell his entire position in Mamma.com Inc.in 2004, after the online…

Nov 17, 2008 5:27 PM CST

Fed Could Be Sole Regulator for Financial Institutions, Says Sullivan Chair

Speaking at a conference today in New York on the outlook for mergers and acquisitions, a famed attorney dealmaker predicted that one result of the current economic crisis will be streamlined regulation for financial institutions. H. Rodgin Cohen, the chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell, “said the crisis was likely to…

Nov 13, 2008 12:03 AM CST

UBS Exec Charged in Federal Tax Fraud Conspiracy Case

A senior private banking executive with UBS AG has been indicted in a federal tax fraud conspiracy case after months of investigation of how some U.S. residents allegedly dodged their taxes by hiding some $20 billion in assets in secret accounts. However, a lawyer for Raoul Weil says the case…

Nov 12, 2008 9:28 PM CST

Company Tax Techniques Could Be Costly in Closely Watched Mass. Cases

Three closely watched Massachusetts cases over aggressive corporate tax avoidance techniques are likely to be decided soon. And if they come down in favor of the state, as some observers say they may, other companies both there and elsewhere are likely to ante up much-needed additional revenue, reports the Boston…

Nov 5, 2008 8:54 PM CST

Memo to Prosecutors: Time to Back Off

DOJ curbs pressure tactics in corporate probes, but critics want Congress to act

Nov 2, 2008 2:45 AM CST

Lessons Learned From Enron: Zip, Zero, Nada, Wall Street Journal Says

What a difference more than six months of financial crisis can create. After the fall of the once-fabled Enron energy company and the federal conviction of 22 of its former employees, officials crowed a few years ago that its failure had helped strengthen regulatory protections. Maybe so, as evidenced by…

Oct 29, 2008 7:58 PM CDT

Wachtell Founder Says Rebound Could Take Up to Five Years

One of the lawyers who founded Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is predicting a long road to the nation’s economic recovery. Martin Lipton, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer, told students at New York University law school last week that the nation won’t see a recovery until the mortgage and housing…

Oct 27, 2008 12:40 PM CDT

WaMu is Being Investigated by FBI

Add Washington Mutual Bank to a list of major corporate failures that are being investigated by the FBI. The FBI had been secretly looking into the bank’s operations for months. However, it went public yesterday with the investigation because WaMu depositors, having already seen the institution become the biggest bank…

Oct 16, 2008 9:12 PM CDT

Recover Executive Perks, or Else, NY’s AG Tells Insurance Giant AIG

In an effort that could serve as a blueprint to others seeking to hold executives of failed corporations financially responsible, the attorney general of New York has sent a letter to insurance giant AIG. In it, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says the company must recover millions of dollars in “unreasonable”…

Oct 15, 2008 7:22 PM CDT

Law Students Pursue Securities Cases for Small Investors

With an expected surge in civil and criminal fraud cases on the horizon over questions about the conduct of those involved in making mortgage loans blamed for a worldwide credit crisis, several law schools will soon be graduating a new crop of students who already have trial experience in the…

Oct 13, 2008 7:04 PM CDT

Wall Street Crisis Creates Too Much Work for Weary Bank Lawyers

Amidst what one consultant describes as a horrible year for major corporate law firms, one practice area is red-hot: advising struggling financial institutions, for those considered expert in the practice area. One unnamed lawyer billed 450 hours last month—that’s 15 per day, every day, according to Bloomberg. Others, according to…

Oct 9, 2008 9:00 PM CDT

U.S. Lawmaker Suggests Special Counsel Probe of Wall Street Operations

At least one congressional lawmaker is calling for the appointment of a special counsel to probe Wall Street’s operations, as a global financial crisis apparently sparked by the U.S. mortgage meltdown continued today. As stock prices plummeted again worldwide today and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee began hearings…

Oct 6, 2008 7:25 PM CDT

Silver Lining to US Financial Storm: New Law Practice Arena

Continuing economic turmoil in the U.S. and internationally is prompting a number of major law firms to form special multidisciplinary practice groups to help clients deal with financial crises. In the process, some are creating new Internet resources that also may be of interest to other practitioners. In addition to…

Sep 30, 2008 4:16 PM CDT

Shareholder Suits in Uphill Battle Due to Current Financial Crisis

Despite predictions that the current U.S. economic crisis will bring more business to a number of lawyers, it is also likely to mean more work and less pay for others. Among those for whom the United States financial situation is creating an uphill battle is plaintiffs lawyers in shareholder suits,…

Sep 29, 2008 9:27 PM CDT

Feds Seize & Sell WaMu; Biggest Bank Failure in US History

Moving fast in the midst of an extraordinarily troubled U.S. economy, federal regulators seized—and sold—the troubled Washington Mutual bank last night. “Regulators simultaneously brokered an emergency sale of virtually all of Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings and loan, to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion, averting another potentially huge taxpayer…

Sep 26, 2008 7:28 PM CDT